A quick clearout of Stoke-On-Trent

The day before our holiday I had to pick up a computer from the Apple repairer’s in Stoke so decided to do some of the many caches that have come out recently while I was there. This was mainly cannonedwards’ Oranges series around Lyme Valley Park but also Shep’s Dog Walk series near to M6 J15. Along the way there were a few stand-alone caches.

Looking down into Lyme Valley Park from GZ at one of the Oranges caches

I picked up a quick cannonedwards Puzzle cache (link) on the way into Newcastle and a nearby Traditional before going straight to pick up the Mac. After that I did a few quick and easy caches on my way back down towards Newcastle and the Oranges series. Nothing too taxing here.

A cricket match in full play, next to Lyme Valley Park

Once in Newcastle, I parked the Jeep at a nearby Homebase store and set off on foot for the Oranges series. This is a set of 6 or so caches around the really nice Lyme Valley Park. We’ve been here for other (now archived) caches so knew our way round and the caches were all quick easy finds, with just one DNF on a cache that was missing. Some fun hides on some of them too, which is always appreciated.

Love this public art over the River Trent on the Shep's Walk

Next, I headed over to just south of M6 J15 for the Shep’s Walk series. This is a set of 11 caches set around a local cacher’s dog walking route, including sections along a canal, along the River Trent and through some more urban housing areas. I had a great walk round all the caches and found them all without too much trouble.

The Britannia Stadium - home of Stoke City FC. Seen from the canal on the Shep's Walk series.

After I was finished, I still had an hour left so decided to head up towards Keele University to try for some of the new caches there. As usual when I go here, I could not find anywhere to park as you seem to need student permits to park without getting your car towed away. In the end I opted to drive the Jeep down a Byway by the M6 and come into Keele Woods for the two caches there from that direction.

A lovely pool in the middle of Keele woods

I had great fun bumping my way along the pot-holed Byway and parked up by a handy entrance to the woods. A nice walk through the lovely woods then took me to the first cache. As I approached, it was clear two other cachers were there already looking for the cache. It was the Water-Rats – great to meet you both.

We did this and the next cache toegether before parting and I then headed home to pack my bag for our holiday tomorrow.